This chapter starts from the premise that economic actions can only be understood if looked upon as embedded in social structure. Therefore, it elaborates the concept of (sustainable) livelihood,... Show moreThis chapter starts from the premise that economic actions can only be understood if looked upon as embedded in social structure. Therefore, it elaborates the concept of (sustainable) livelihood, which is taken to emanate from the interactions of actors with vital capitals. It argues that, in the context of globalization, livelihood becomes increasingly multidimensional and multilocal, spanning rural and urban areas at the same time. The chapter focuses on changing rural-urban linkages in West Africa, notably on the trade in maize, yam, and cattle in Benin. Expanding flows between rural areas and urban outlets are analysed against the background of the livelihood strategies of traders, paying special attention to trade organization, networks, entry modes, and accumulation paths. Emphasis is placed on the role of social capital in these interactions. Bibliogr. [ASC Leiden abstract] Show less
In this chapter the author explores how the inhabitants of Lusaka, the capital of Zambia, have used their church organization to create a viable social texture for themselves, serving political,... Show moreIn this chapter the author explores how the inhabitants of Lusaka, the capital of Zambia, have used their church organization to create a viable social texture for themselves, serving political, economic and kinship goals way beyond the letter of the gospel. In Zambia, towns only came into being during the colonial period. The author starts with a discussion of the relative importance of continuity and transformation in the urban social structure of rural patterns of social relations. He then presents a long monologue of just one urban protagonist, recorded during fieldwork in 1972-1973. Mrs. Evelyn Phiri lives in the township of Kapemperere in Lusaka, and is a member of a well-established church body, the Roman Catholic Church. Her monologue highlights the discussion of elements of continuity and transformation. The church appears as a local formal organization, as a structure of material and ideological/spiritual assistance, and finally as a structure of social control. It assumes functions which can only be understood against the background of preexisting rural traditional patterns, yet caters for needs of crisis support, conflict regulation and the expression of group identity and an emerging class structure. This provides a framework within which to identify urban social processes such as they manifest themselves in the social drama evocated in Mrs. Phiri's monologue. Notes, ref Show less
Many local tenure arrangements in Niger were largely implicit, not recorded in any codified form. In the process of codification now underway, chiefs are regarded as the key interpreters of... Show moreMany local tenure arrangements in Niger were largely implicit, not recorded in any codified form. In the process of codification now underway, chiefs are regarded as the key interpreters of tradition, mutating the implicit into the explicit. Land tenure reform is not without contradictions. How are chiefs to maintain a level of flexibility and dynamism within the codified, rigidified form that the local tenure arrangements will have once they are made explicit? How are chiefs to determine which implicit local customary practice is to have primacy in a codified form, since their parameters are always changing from season to season and from year to year? As the new 'Code rural' in Niger shows, the invention-of-tradition approach which has gained prominence in English-language research has failed in its French counterparts. Both planner-administrators and academics are engaged in a discourse that seems to take tradition as an undisputed given. The remarkable thing is that is appears to work. The 'Code rural' has been considered path-breaking and innovative because it seeks to modernize tenure rules without breaking with tradition. The conclusion is that land tenure legislation can be modernized by integrating traditional chiefs into the legal framework. Show less
Nkoya is an ethnic and linguistic label applying to about 50,000 people inhabiting the wooded plateau of Central Western Zambia. The author discusses the valley as the effective rural community... Show moreNkoya is an ethnic and linguistic label applying to about 50,000 people inhabiting the wooded plateau of Central Western Zambia. The author discusses the valley as the effective rural community and the villages as the main constituent social units within the valley and finally indicates the place of Nkoya society within the context of Central Africa as a whole Show less
